3.75 stars

CWs: death, rebellion, violence, blood and injury detail

Thank you to the publisher for an eARC vie NetGalley. 

I’m feeling a bit conflicted about this one. It took me about 50% to really get invested in the story and the characters. I found the beginning was quite slow and drawn out. I appreciated the details that were provided to set the scene and the character relationships, but I wish that it hadn’t taken so long to really get into the action. I struggled to stay focused on the story and wanting to read it, but once I got to part 2 and pst the 50% mark, I flew through the rest of the book. In a couple of hours I finished it, while it took me 2 weeks to find the desire to read the first half. This is definitely a combination of me not being in the right mood, and the story just not quite hooking me fully from the beginning. 
I liked Esther alright in the beginning, but once things started to get intense and go badly, I really liked her character. She stood up for things, she was strong and brave, and I was rooting for her. I liked her relationship with her sister, and I wish that we’d seen more of it. 
I liked Nik from the beginning. Something about his character was perfect for this kind of story. He was well written and I admired his conviction and loyalty. I liked learning about the rebellion, but I wish there had been more details. Much of it was vaguely discussed even though Nik is a major part of the rebellion. This left me feeling conflicted about the rebellion and I wasn’t fully invested in it or the characters for more than half the story. 
The story is told through 3 POVs that of Esther, Nik and commander Hadley. Esther’s and Nik’s POVs are both first-person, but Hadley’s was third. I didn’t mind this, and I actually liked Hadley’s POV a lot. As the villain he was pretty basic, but it was easy to hate him.